US Congressman. He was elected as a Republican to represent Arkansas' 2nd District in the Fortieth Congress, and served for four months (June to October) in 1868. A vigorous supporter of Reconstruction efforts in the post-Civil War South, he was assassinated by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Hinds was born in Hebron, New York. He studied law in St. Louis, and after graduating from the Cincinnati Law College in 1856 he relocated to St. Peter, Minnesota. Over a period of five years he served as district attorney for 13 Minnesota counties and was briefly a US district attorney. With the outbreak of the US-Dakota War in August 1862 he joined former Governor Henry Sibley's military expedition as a member of the cavalry, helping to secure the Minnesota River Valley. Although he was a Democrat for most of his career, Hinds supported Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and eventually switched allegiance to the Republican Party. In June 1865 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and played a prominent role in that former Confederate state's readmission to the Union. He was a Pulaski County delegate to the State Constitutional Convention (1868) and a member of the commission to codify new state laws. Upon Arkansas' return to federal representation (June 1868) he began elected service as one its three new Congressmen. Hinds spent little time on Capitol Hill, remaining instead in his adopted home to push through the Reconstruction Acts and educate newly enfranchised African-Americans on their rights as citizens; he then declined his party's renomination for Congress in order to continue this campaign. Hinds' efforts were met with great hostility in the southern region of the state and he wrote to his wife of encountering death threats and harassment. On October 28, 1868, Hinds and fellow Republican politician Joseph Brooks were ambushed on a country road near Indian Bay, Arkansas by local KKK member George Clark. Hinds died of shotgun wounds two hours later, while Brooks escaped with minor injuries. An investigation ruled that the attack was politically motivated. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC. Hinds was the highest-ranking government official to be murdered in any state during Reconstruction, and one of six US Congressmen to be assassinated in office.
US Congressman. He was elected as a Republican to represent Arkansas' 2nd District in the Fortieth Congress, and served for four months (June to October) in 1868. A vigorous supporter of Reconstruction efforts in the post-Civil War South, he was assassinated by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Hinds was born in Hebron, New York. He studied law in St. Louis, and after graduating from the Cincinnati Law College in 1856 he relocated to St. Peter, Minnesota. Over a period of five years he served as district attorney for 13 Minnesota counties and was briefly a US district attorney. With the outbreak of the US-Dakota War in August 1862 he joined former Governor Henry Sibley's military expedition as a member of the cavalry, helping to secure the Minnesota River Valley. Although he was a Democrat for most of his career, Hinds supported Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and eventually switched allegiance to the Republican Party. In June 1865 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and played a prominent role in that former Confederate state's readmission to the Union. He was a Pulaski County delegate to the State Constitutional Convention (1868) and a member of the commission to codify new state laws. Upon Arkansas' return to federal representation (June 1868) he began elected service as one its three new Congressmen. Hinds spent little time on Capitol Hill, remaining instead in his adopted home to push through the Reconstruction Acts and educate newly enfranchised African-Americans on their rights as citizens; he then declined his party's renomination for Congress in order to continue this campaign. Hinds' efforts were met with great hostility in the southern region of the state and he wrote to his wife of encountering death threats and harassment. On October 28, 1868, Hinds and fellow Republican politician Joseph Brooks were ambushed on a country road near Indian Bay, Arkansas by local KKK member George Clark. Hinds died of shotgun wounds two hours later, while Brooks escaped with minor injuries. An investigation ruled that the attack was politically motivated. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC. Hinds was the highest-ranking government official to be murdered in any state during Reconstruction, and one of six US Congressmen to be assassinated in office.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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